Uttarakhand first state after Goa to implement Uniform Civil Code

CM Dhami first to register his marriage on UCC portal

The Uttarakhand government on Monday became the second state in the country, and the first to do so in independent India, to implement a Uniform Civil Code (UCC), rolling out the manual of rules for the legislation.

 

Goa continued with its colonial-era UCC when it became part of India in 1961. Then it was a Union Territory.

 

At a function in Dehradun, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami launched a portal for the mandatory online registration of marriages, divorce, and live-in relationships.

 

According to the state government’s portal, the Uttarakhand UCC Rules “establish a comprehensive legal framework aimed at unifying personal laws related to marriage, divorce, inheritance, adoption and succession for all citizens of Uttarakhand, irrespective of religion or community”.

 

The Rules also apply to the residents of Uttarakhand who live outside the state, and also hold good for cases in which one of the partners is a foreign national and the other a resident of Uttarakhand, the Rules stated.

 

Goa follows a UCC based on the Portuguese Civil Code of 1867. The Goa, Daman and Diu Administration Act of 1962 permitted it to retain the colonial-era civil code.

 

The chief minister was the first to register his marriage on the UCC portal. Chief Secretary Radha Raturi handed over the certificate of his marriage registration to him. He also handed over certificates to the first five people who registered on the UCC portal.

 

“It is a constitutional tool to end all legal discrimination in the name of caste, religion or community. It will put an end to all evil social practices like ‘Halala’ and ‘Iddat’,” Dhami said.

 

The UCC does not interfere with the marital rituals of any community, he said, adding that most Islamic countries of the world had implemented such laws.

 

He said the state’s Scheduled Tribes had been kept out of its ambit so that it did not intrude into their unique social and marital practices.

 

Dhami rejected criticism that by making the registration of live-in relationships mandatory the UCC usurped the privacy of live-in couples. He said it was meant only to protect the lives of women by keeping a digital record of their relationships so that they did not face violence. He said it would prevent brutal incidents like the one in 2022 in which Shradhha Walkar was allegedly killed by her live-in partner, Aftab Poonawala, who kept her body in a fridge after chopping it into pieces.

 

Poonawala has been accused of killing Walkar in Delhi.

 

“I hope the Gangotri of UCC after originating from Uttarakhand will flow to the rest of the country and inspire the whole nation,” Dhami said.

 

In New Delhi, Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar termed it a “very auspicious sign” that “DevBhoomi Uttarakhand” had made the UCC a reality.

 

Dhankhar said Article 44 of the Constitution mandated and ordained that the state shall endeavour to secure for the citizens a uniform civil code throughout the territory of India. “I am sure it will only be a matter of time before the entire country adopts similar legislation,” Dhankhar said.